Friday, November 14, 2014

# 36 Will the Phnom Penh Post correct errors of fact that have damaged David Fletcher's reputation?



Dear David Boyle
On 21st March 2011, the Phnom Penh Post published an article entitled “Thailand To Extradite UK Rape Suspect”, written by Cheang Sokha. The article contained some inaccuracies that have never been corrected.
“THAILAND has reportedly ordered the extradition of a British man wanted in Cambodia on charges of sexually assaulting two underage girls.”
Mr Fletcher was not and has never been charged with “sexually assaulting two underage girls”
“David Fletcher, 65, fled the Kingdom last year after the British tabloid The Sunday Mirror alleged that he was using a charity he had founded, the Rubbish Dump project, to gain access to young girls at the Stung Meanchey dump site in Phnom Penh.”
Mr Fletcher did not ‘flee’ Cambodia. He had arranged to leave Cambodia well before Andrew Drummond’s article was published. This is well documented.
“Samleang Seila, director of the child rights group Action Pour Les Enfants, said Fletcher was set to stand trial at Phnom Penh Municipal Court on March 31 for allegedly raping two underage girls. Cambodian and Thai officials are still in the process of arranging Fletcher’s return, Samleang Seila said.”
Either Samleang Seila has been misquoted by the Phnom Penh Post or he is a liar. Mr Fletcher has never been charged with “raping two underage girls.”
Given that Mr Fletcher was not charged with the rape of two girls, why has the Phnom Penh Post never questioned Samleang Seila about his false allegation and published a retraction? By allowing this information to remain in the public domain, uncorrected, the Phnom Penh Post has contributed to the destruction of Mr Fletcher’s reputation.
As you are well aware, David, I have conducted two interviews with Yang Dany and her mother in which they both deny that any rape took place. This should come as no surprise to anyone who had bothered to look at the court document (see attached) in which a doctor declared that Yang Dany’s hymen was intact; that she remained a virgin after two alleged ‘brutal rapes’. For all of those involved in the pursuit and prosecution of David Fletcher, knowledge of Yang Dany’s virginity has been known since September 2010.
I have learned today that APLE has arranged not only for Yang Dany not to be present in court on 20th Nov but not to be in Cambodia at all. Why is it that the Phnom Penh Post does not expose APLE as an NGO that plays fast and loose with facts, truth and evidence in order to maintain a constant stream of convictions that it can then use to secure further funding? Why is it that corrupt NGOs are able to breach the human and legal rights of both Cambodians and non-Cambodians secure in the knowledge that the Phnom Penh Post will turn a blind eye?
I trust that you may prove me wrong in my presumptions about the Phnom Penh Post; that you will take an interest in the fate of Mr Fletcher – especially given that your newspaper has published details of his case that are demonstrably factually incorrect. I trust that the Phnom Penh Post will ask APLE if it is true that Yang Dany will not be appearing in court on 20th Nov and why the NGO has arranged for her to leave the country?
If the Phnom Penh Post is interested in viewing the interviews I have conducted with Yang Dany, and which present the evidence she would have presented in court if APLE had not arranged for her to leave the country, I will courier it to you on a USB over the weekend.
If I get no response at all to this email I will work on the presumption that you have no intention of correcting the errors of fact published by the Phnom Penh Post; that you have no intention of asking  Samleang Seila, Ana G. Pinheiro or Thierry Darnaudet to explain just why it is that the NGO has told Yang Dany that she will get $5,000 if she persists with her rape allegations despite all the evidence (including her own admissions) that she was not raped.
Corrupt NGOs such as APLE should be shut down but they will not be for as long as the media publishes whatever lies the NGO tells and asks no questions.
best wishes
James Ricketson

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